in-sight from little and big life experiences

Archive for May, 2017

Many years ago, I played some squash and had the opportunity to enjoy a few lessons with the world-renowned Khan family of coaches in Seattle. I heard one of them say, “You don’t play squash to get fit, you get fit to play squash.”

Some years later when I was riding a profound low and a beloved guide wondered why I didn’t seek out music for healing, I heard my inner guru say, “You don’t do music to be healed, you must be healed to do/serve music!” (more…)

If one must be motivated to do something, there is both a doer and an agenda/condition for happiness. (Motive and motivation arise from the same root.) There’s an underlying belief that if I do X, Y will happen, and that this will be “good.” There’s a definition of good and a need to control outcomes (to feel good).

If one is inspired, there is no doer and no concept of (a self doing) good. Inspiration means to allow Spirit to flow through and arise as spontaneous action. For this, one is void of all specific motive and is an open and receptive channel for universal wellbeing, which must always necessarily include oneself.

If something is a need, we’re singing the tune of its lack, instead of its fulfillment. And since the energy of lack must match the energy of lack, the need has no way of being met. (Something may manifest that temporarily appears to fulfill the need and “make us happy,” but soon the underlying sense of unmet need will rear its hungry head again, looking to be fed :-))

If something is a wish, and has spontaneously arisen from the expansion of joyful fulfillment that already exists, then the wish has no other way but to be fulfilled! (more…)

Validation from others has absolutely no use in one’s life as it matches and continues to reinforce the frequency of lack in oneself. It can act as a temporary salve, numbing the feeling of lack, but soon the need for validation will arise yet again. It is an insatiable sinkhole, leaving one in perennial deficit!

The moment we realize we are enough, simply because we are here, present in this beautiful life, we experience our inherent wholeness. From here, what is naturally and spontaneously drawn from others is appreciation. Appreciation flows freely and abundantly to wholeness.

When we say an event is “so close to home” because we appear to be proximate to it in space or time (or any other identity association), we’ve entered an illusion of the mind. In terms of frequency, a burglary in the neighboring house is no closer than one on the other side of the world! Similarly, in terms of frequency, an accident at an intersection that we crossed 5 minutes ago, is as far away in time as if it happened a year or a decade ago! If something happened with another member of “our community,” again, it is as far (or near) to us as it is if it happened with just about any human being. (more…)

Last weekend, creators of the music circle around me attended Seattle’s Dhrupad Days workshops with the Gundecha Brothers, organized by the Dhrupad Institute of America (DMIA) and held at Cornish College of the Arts. The realization everyone experienced, of their true voices and subtle bodies, is a milestone in alignment with Self, that each of us finds difficult to articulate via words. As one of us exclaimed, “This is Vipassana in sound!”

Earlier in April, my music saathi and I had immersed ourselves more fully in a 7-day Dhrupad residential retreat with the Gundecha Brothers in a small town in Northern Germany, by the Baltic Sea. Sixteen of us did music with the gurus from 5:30am to 8:30pm every day, and couldn’t have meals or even sleep without the vibrations continuing to course through our beings. We began with kharaj practice before sunrise (sometimes by the sea!), and had both group and individual instruction with all three brothers, including in taal from Akhileshji. As Ramakantji often put it, “We don’t teach music, we convey vibrations.” And Umakantiji generously modeled it with the lower notes he assisted us in touching before the sun arose every morning.

And just like that, like the morning sun over the horizon, it dawned on me — Dhrupad (dhruva pada) is not remotely about fixed verse or regimented singing. It is about knowing the unbroken, eternal frequency of one’s existence, through sound and body. (more…)

I am the Friend who is You. I am the Friend who is completely aligned with your Self, who matches the source of you. I am the Friend who appears unmoved by your travels, like the North Star. Whenever you are largely aligned with your Self, you will organically and automatically find me in your life. And when you are not, you will find me somewhere in your consciousness, as You, even if oh-so-subtly, to spark remembrance of Home. (It’s also okay if you forget me, for I know You not apart.) I am the Friend who unwaveringly and unconditionally holds your Self in my heart, and faithfully awaits you, at Home 🙂